The present invention relates to a method for maintaining an object, in which the operation of the object is monitored to report the prevailing situation at the object to on-call duty personnel. The invention also relates to system for maintaining an object, the object having means for monitoring its operation, and the system further comprising reporting means for reporting the prevailing situation to on-call duty personnel. The invention also relates to a wireless communication device arranged to be used in a system for maintaining an object, at which object monitoring of its operation is arranged to be performed to notify the situation prevailing at the object to on-call duty personnel.
For maintaining various objects, methods have been developed, in which a monitoring system is installed in the object, to monitor the operation of the object and, when a failure is detected, to report it to a control room, on-call duty personnel, or the like. On the basis of this notice of failure, a maintenance person or maintenance persons can be assigned to the object to repair the defect. Examples of such objects that can be mentioned include e.g. lifts, equipment related to public utility services, such as pump stations and the like, automatic fuel stations, ticket vending machines, printers, gambling machines, telefax machines, etc. Generally, it can be stated that the objects to be monitored and maintained, as meant in the present description, refer to such objects where no maintenance personnel is available in the direct vicinity of the object. Furthermore, a notice does not need to be a result from detecting a failure, but it can be a notice, for example, that the quantity of a drink sort in an automatic drink vending machine has fallen below a predetermined limit. In this case, the purpose of the notice is to inform the person maintaining the object that the automatic drink vending machine should be supplied with more drinks.
For example, lifts are known which are equipped with various indicators to detect defects. The indicators can be used to monitor e.g. the operation of the motor of the lift, the illumination, the opening and closing of doors, the number of service hours, etc. Furthermore, the indicators can be coupled to a control unit which examines the signals given by the indicators and compares them with predetermined threshold values and/or normal values. If the control unit detects that the signal given by an indicator differs from a normal value, the control unit advantageously generates a notice of defect, where the object and the defect are preferably specified. If a data transmission connection is arranged from the object to be monitored to a control room for monitoring notices of defects, on-call duty personnel, or the like, the notice of defect is transmitted by using this data transmission connection. Such a data transmission connection intended for the transmission of a notice of defect is often arranged as a fixed data transmission connection to the on-call duty personnel of a service company. Such a fixed connection is relatively expensive and, on the other hand, this fixed connection is in a standby state for most of the time, wherein the utilization of the connection is ineffective. There are also systems for notices of failure, based on a telecommunication network, wherein in the occurrence of a defect, the monitoring system sets up a telephone connection to the on-call duty personnel by using either a public switched telecommunication network or a wireless mobile communication network. This requires that a telecommunication terminal complying with either a GSM communication system or a public switched telecommunication connection is installed in connection with the system to be monitored, which also raises the costs of the monitoring system.
Due to e.g. said costs, all objects are not necessarily provided with automatic transmission of a notice of defect to the on-call duty personnel. In such a case, the object, such as a lift, is equipped with a notice, a sticker or the like, with instructions for failure situations. Thus, if the monitoring system detects a failure, it generates e.g. a sound and/or visual message in the vicinity of the object. For example at a pump station, a blinking red light indicates that the pump station has a defect that needs to be repaired. Thus, a person who e.g. passes by the object and detects such a notice of a defect, can follow the instructions given in the notice and notify about the failure in the object. For example, the person contacts on-call duty personnel by telephone and tells about the notice of defect. Such an arrangement has e.g. the drawback that the on-call duty personnel is informed about the failure after a relatively long time from the occurrence of the actual defect, and in some cases, the defect can fail to be detected at all until the defect in the device causes serious damage. On the other hand, not all persons who have observed a notice of defect necessarily inform about the defects to the on-call duty personnel. This may be due e.g. to the fact that the call costs may be charged from the person who gave the notice, it is found difficult to give a notice, and it can be even impossible if there is no phone available, such as a public phone in the vicinity of the object. Thus, the user should have to write down the telephone number and find a phone where information about the notice could be transmitted to the on-call duty personnel.
It is an aim of the present invention to provide a method for maintaining a system and a maintenance system in which the above-mentioned drawbacks are preferably eliminated. The invention is based on the idea that the object to be monitored is equipped with a short-range communication device, by which a notice of failure can be transmitted to a device which is located in the vicinity of the object and is equipped with means for receiving this notice. The method according to the present invention is primarily characterized in that in the method, at least a transmission step is taken, in which:
at least one notice message is formed, and
at least one formed notice message is transmitted by short-range wireless communication means,
wherein if, within the range of the short-range wireless communication means, at least one device, equipped with means for receiving said at least one transmitted notice message, detects the transmitted notice message, at least the following steps are further taken in said device:
a receiving step for receiving the transmitted notice message, and
a sorting step to sort out whether information about the received notice message is to be transmitted from the device to the on-call duty personnel,
wherein if the transmission can be performed, information about the prevailing situation is transmitted to the on-call duty personnel.
The system according to the present invention is primarily characterized in that the system further comprises at least means for generating at least one notice message on the prevailing situation, short-range wireless communication means for transmitting said notice message, a device comprising receiving means for receiving said at least one transmitted notice message, and sorting means to sort out whether information about the received notice message is to be transmitted from the device to the on-call duty personnel, wherein the notice means comprise transmitting means for transmitting information about the prevailing situation to the on-call duty personnel. The wireless communication device according to the present invention is primarily characterized in that the wireless communication device comprises at least receiving means for receiving at least one notice message generated on the situation prevailing at the object and transmitted by short-range wireless communication means, and that the wireless communication device further comprises at least sorting means to sort out whether information about the received notice message is to be transmitted from the device to the on-call duty personnel, and transmitting means for transmitting information about the prevailing situation to the on-call duty personnel.
By means of the present invention, considerable advantages are achieved when compared to systems and methods of prior art. By using the method of the invention, it is possible to provide a system and a device which are less expensive than the prior art but still have a facility to give a notice on failure. Using the method of the invention, an arrangement for notifying on failures can be implemented even in devices where it is not reasonable and profitable to implement arrangements for notices of defect according to prior art. Furthermore, with the method of the invention, the advantage is obtained that a notice on failure can be automatically supplemented with information that facilitates the repairing of the failure more than in systems in which a passer-by, on the basis of a notice of defect, transmits the information orally by telephone, wherein he/she is asked to give the location of the defective device and to describe the failure, if possible. Yet another advantage that should be mentioned is that a passer-by can prove his/her presence for example in a situation in which an automatic drink vending machine did not give a drink although the passer-by had made a payment.